ROLAND — In an evenly matched defensive battle, it was only fitting that Friday’s Roland-Eufaula game came down to fourth-and-goal.

Roland held Eufaula on four tries from the 10-yard line to pull out a 30-22 win and maintain its postseason hopes. The Rangers (5-3, 2-3 3A-8) took a critical step by knocking off the Ironheads (4-4, 2-3), who entered Friday’s game tied for fourth in the district standings.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids out there, a lot of sophomores, and they’ve faced a lot of adversity with injuries,” Roland coach Jeff Streun said. “Four weeks ago, faced with the same type of adversity, we didn’t respond. We didn’t know how to let go of the negative things, turn the page and do better on the next snap. Now they’ve figured it out and it’s great for the growth of the team.”

With the score knotted at 22, Eufaula began a drive with just less than five minutes remaining and, with the help of a Roland personal foul penalty, quickly got inside the Ranger 20. But after two timeouts in the final two seconds — including one by Roland to ice Eufaula kicker Jake Hunn — Hunn missed a 17-yard field goal attempt wide left to send it into overtime.

Roland got the first set of downs at 10-yard line, but needed just one. Quarterback Manuel Bunch dropped to pass, but saw a seam and quickly weaved his way into the end zone for the winning score. He also ran in the 2-point conversion.

“He’s growing every day,” Streun said of the gifted sophomore, who also passed for two TDs, including one to older brother Madison Bunch. “He’s creative, keeps his eyes downfield and did some real good things with his feet as well tonight.”

On Eufaula’s OT possession, Casey Pryor, the game’s leading rusher with 137 yards, gained two yards on first down. But Gunner Ford threw three straight incompletions to end the game.

Eufaula took a 15-14 halftime lead on a pair of controversial plays. Devon Siers returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown, but officials threw a flag during the runback, and huddled with each other and the coaches for several minutes to hash out the call. Roland was penalized for a sideline infraction because of a player getting in the way of an official running down the sideline and the touchdown stood.

“We did the same thing at Keys a year or two ago and they brought the play back, so that’s the way I interpreted that play and to this day, I still don’t know that’s what the case is,” Streun said. “I just know, in that situation, our touchdown got called back. In the same scenario (tonight), we thought that one should have come back.

“They get the TD and on the 2-point conversion, where we thought he was beyond the line of scrimmage, they had linemen downfield and we don’t get the stop … There were just a lot of things right before the half, along with some penalties that really killed drives.”

Roland suffered a bigger blow, however, by losing do-it-all standout Austin Cantrell to a shoulder injury right before halftime. Cantrell will have an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

“He’s definitely a big playmaker for us at tight end, running back, on the defensive line and punting,” Streun said. “So when you lose a guy like that, it’s extremely difficult. But it didn’t faze our kids tonight. I’m just real proud of how they stepped up and faced adversity with a positive attitude.”